Blizzard Drive and Catch Up

Hey there. So I just got back from a crazy night. Lily went to a birthday party for a friend from school who lives in West Jordan" So I was thinking just on the other side of the freeway, but it was actually West Valley, even though their address is West Jordan. I'm looking at a map trying to figure out where my dangerous ride took me tonight, and I know they live in a neighborhood off of the Mountain Corridor Highway off of the Bacchus Highway, it was like 35 minutes away in a straight shot across the valley when I dropped her off, but took me a lot longer on my way out to pick her up. As I drove her out there, I was amazed that they take their kid to school at Churchill! I'm assuming that they don't have a bus, and that is a LONG drive to take everyday. Anyway, it started at 5, I took her out and then drove back through Murray and went to Costco with Daniel and Peter with me. After we finished and just as we got on the freeway, there was a major hail storm right on top of us. It was crazy loud and seemed like it was going to break the windshield or dent the car. The cars on the freeway were all coping with the storm in different ways. It was super thick and sticky slush on the road, so we were all driving slow and traffic was backed up, but I wanted to keep moving and hoped to get out of it. As I came to an overpass, there were cars stopped underneath to wait it out. I kept going, hoping that as I headed home I would be moving away from the storm and not more into it. I called Corey and he said there was no snow or hail at home, so that gave me hope. Sure enough, after that first 20 minutes in the hail, I was out of it and the roads were clear, phew! At home it started to rain but we unpacked and I was glad to be out of the bad weather. Well, tonight at 7:20 I headed out to go pick up Lily, and things again looked fine around our home, but as I started getting further and further across the valley, it looked like that hail storm from early had left it's mark cause the streets were full of slush. AND there was another storm coming through. By the time I reached the west hills, I was in a full on blizzard and the roads were not plowed and it was slippery and I was so afraid of getting stuck! I called Lily to tell her we need to leave right away and to please be ready. She got in quickly enough, and we headed out with fingers crossed, but then we got stuck trying to get up a small hill out of her friends neighborhood. Darn, what was I thinking! I didn't have boots on, I didn't have a shovel, why didn't I bring Corey's 4 wheel drive car?!!? I was kicking myself for all these reasons and we were able to back up and park the car next to her friends house. I called Corey and thought I'd probably have to just stay the night, the weather is too bad, don't come and get me, it's not worth the risk! But Corey was soon on his way. "Are you sure?!?! It's sooo bad! It's too dangerous!"

I was feeling a bit fatalistic. Corey said he was coming and was soon on his way. He wasn't scared to come out. 

Whilst I was facing the hopeless situation of the Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains, he was looking out the window at home and didn't see anything alarming... "Seems ok..."

Ok, so he's coming to get us. We decided to leave the car. Her friend's dad said he'd dig it out, cause the neighborhood HOA didn't allow cars to stay on the street, so I left the van key with him and he was at work and her friend's mom got us in their 4 wheel drive and started to take us home. I followed Corey's location on life 360 and we met at the stoplight at Mountain View Corridor at the same time, and we just jumped out of her car and into Corey's and headed home. I felt like I'd just been through the anxiety of driving through the Teton Pass in a blizzard again! But before we'd even driven for 5 minutes, there were clear roads and it was a little wet but no snow. 

I was amazed. All seemed calm. Wait, what just happened? What kind of Narnia time travel did we just pass through? I guess that's why Corey wasn't afraid to come. I also stopped blaming myself with "what was I thinking" cause yeah, it looked fine, and that's why I didn't bring the 4 wheel drive. Corey made a new rule on the drive home - No going to friends houses who live in a different climate. Haha. Yeah, so it was nuts, and sharing that whole story was therapeutic and has helped me calm down, so thanks. I was glad to get home safely and I'm thankful to Corey for rescuing us. The weather looks ok tomorrow afternoon so after the roads are all clear, we'll drive back out to Narnia to pick up the van.

So that was all super stressful for me, but it's been a great week, especially with Mel back home from her mission. Here Daniel is after having a sleep over in her room. 

I was just looking through pictures of this past week and thought I'd catch up on a few things that I didn't post. Here are the kids playing pirates on Wednesday night. 

And we had decided to help Mel start to become reacquainted with the secular world by watching Encanto. 

Thursday was parent teacher conferences at the elementary school, which also means the book fair and the before school "Dads and Donuts" activity were happening this week. Corey took the kids to that on Tuesday morning, and Daniel went along too. They all went to the book fair after and Corey let them pick one book. Here's what Daniel got. 

Daniel is ready to go to kindergarten and has been ready for a while (those darn September birthdays) but he keeps busy by playing with lots of friends. Here he is Tuesday after lunch playing with his sisters legos with his friend Bo.

Yesterday Abi had a Sonata Competition with the Utah Flute Association at Westminster College. Mel was nice enough to take her, which was very helpful, since I was with Natalie at a group violin class and Corey was at work. I took the little boys to a park while we waited. 

Abi at the flute competion - ready to perform. 

And after. Abi performed two songs, In Memoriam and Grazioso. Mel said she did very well. 

And for our date night last night, we invited Mel and went to Rodizio down at Trolley Square, to help her ease back into life in the US by knowing she can still find Brazilian food here in the valley. 

It was good, life is good, and yeah, I'm glad we're all safe and alive.